Festival of Shadows: A Japanese Ghost Story

(Paperback)

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Description

Age range 14 to 18

What happens when the living meet the dead

Every summer, in an isolated Japanese village, a celebration known as the Festival of Shadows takes place, when the villagers welcome into their homes the shadows of people who have died in tragic circumstances, to try and help these tortured souls come to terms with their deaths and provide the solace they need to move on peacefully.

Born in the village, Naoko is a young girl doing her best to live up to the expectations of the village elders by allowing them to assign her a shadow to care for. She develops strong feelings for her shadow a handsome young man, an artist but he seems haunted by a terrible secret. She has a year to find out what happened to him, to help him come to terms with his past, and if she fails, his soul will be lost forever.

Naoko puts her own life on the line to save the soul of this man she loves, in an exciting, moving and beautifully drawn story that takes the reader on a journey from the beautiful Japanese countryside to glamorous Tokyo art world.

'This graphic novel is a beautiful piece of fiction and art, each aspect impeccably complementing the other to create a rich, vibrant story told as much through the illustrations as the text itself.' Jemimah Halbert Brewster

Reviews

"a beautifully drawn graphic novel. It felt authentic and whimsical, which fit perfectly with the story. But this story isn't always playfulThe story deals with grief and loss and what happens to us after" --Heather, Nine Bookish Lives, bookstagram
"Hyper-detailed watercolor and ink art by Sento (Onibi: Diary of a Yokai Ghost Hunter) painstakingly reproduce traditional Japanese elements such as shoji screens, tatami mats, kimonos, and housecoats, and portrayals of the shadows evoke a dreamlike blur. Via Naoko's romantic and intimate voice, Sento explores themes of grief, heartache, and loss, coalescing into a sensitively told supernatural tale. Ages 14 and up." --Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Atelier Sento, the award-winning creative team of Cecile Brun and Olivier Pichard was born out of travels to Japan--of the people they met and the drawings and photographs they brought back. Using mostly traditional techniques such as watercolor, colored pencils and printmaking, they like to share a Japan that's uncommon, removed from stereotypes, a Japan of villages lost in the mountains, of popular festivals and forgotten spirits. For their previous works Atelier Sento have won the Japan International Manga Award, were shortlisted for the 2019 Dwayne McDuffie Award for Kids' Comics, and received an Honorable Mention in the 2018 Freeman Book Awards for Children's and Young Adult's Literature on East and Southeast Asia.